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Haunted Houses - Castel a Mare · Short Ghost and Horror Stories Collection

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty, Haunted Houses costel a mare. I have never
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Speaker 1: yet met any one who was not interested in haunted houses.
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Speaker 1: Even the most blatant skeptic always wants to hear all
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Speaker 1: about it, though he has predetermined to treat the story
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Speaker 1: with his habitual scoffing incredulity. Of all the departments of
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Speaker 1: psychical research, none commands more general interest than a spooky house.
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Speaker 1: And there are few people who cannot name a dwelling
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Speaker 1: which has acquired the reputation for being haunted by denizens
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Speaker 1: of the other world. Of course, any house that falls
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Speaker 1: into serious disrepair and remains unoccupied for some long period.
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Speaker 1: Any dwelling whose owner permits decay to proceed unchecked and
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Speaker 1: dilapidation to run its course at once suggests the thought
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Speaker 1: to the beholder, what a haunted looking old place? And
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Speaker 1: rumor in such cases quickly supplies all the old phenomena,
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Speaker 1: even though tradition be totally absent. Tramps are always on
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Speaker 1: the lookout for such shelters, and they are damped down.
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Speaker 1: Fires catch the eye of some scared rustic who happens
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Speaker 1: to be passing in the dark. Rats and the winds
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Speaker 1: of heaven play hide and seek through the deserted rooms
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Speaker 1: and corridors, and owls find sanctuary in the surrounding gardens.
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Speaker 1: Their cries, varying from the exultant shriek to the mournful wail,
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Speaker 1: add a weird suggestiveness to the abiding melancholy of such
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Speaker 1: abandoned habitations. There is so much talk nowadays of hauntings
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Speaker 1: and ghosts that it seems strange we should know so
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Speaker 1: very little about them. I have never heard a really
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Speaker 1: convincing explanation of why ghosts should haunt certain houses, and
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Speaker 1: I have no explanation of my own to offer. If
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Speaker 1: ghosts could be commanded, if one could be sure of
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Speaker 1: whichnessing certain phenomena that have been elaborately described to one,
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Speaker 1: then there might be the ghost of a chance of
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Speaker 1: advantageous investigation. No such opportunities seem to be afforded the investigator.
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Speaker 1: He may watch for months and see nothing. Yet the
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Speaker 1: elusive wraith may turn up before several witnesses on the
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Speaker 1: very night after he has abandoned his quest out of
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Speaker 1: sheer boredom and discouragement. Some seven years ago, whilst wintering
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Speaker 1: in Torquay, I heard a great deal of gossip about
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Speaker 1: a villa on the Warburies, which was reputed to be
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Speaker 1: badly haunted for the last forty or fifty years. Nobody,
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Speaker 1: it was said, had been able to live in it
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Speaker 1: for any length of time. Several people asserted that they
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Speaker 1: had heard screams coming from it as they passed along
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Speaker 1: the high road, and no occupant had ever been able
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Speaker 1: to keep a door shut or even locked. The house
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Speaker 1: is at present being pulled down. Therefore I commit no
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Speaker 1: indiscretion in describing the phenomena connected with it. Castel a
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Speaker 1: Mare is situated in what house agents would describe as
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Speaker 1: a highly residential quarter. It is surrounded by numerous villas
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Speaker 1: inhabited by people who are all very well to do,
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Speaker 1: and who make Torquays their permanent home. The majority of
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Speaker 1: these villas lie right back from the road and are
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Speaker 1: hidden in their own luxuriant gardens. But the haunted house
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Speaker 1: is one of several whose back premises open straight onto
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Speaker 1: the road. No dwelling could have looked more commonplace or uninteresting.
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Speaker 1: It was built in the form of a high box,
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Speaker 1: three storied. It was hideous and inartistic in the extreme,
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Speaker 1: but along its frontage, looking towards the sea and hidden
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Speaker 1: from the road, there ran a wide balcony onto which
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Speaker 1: the second floor rooms opened, and from there the view
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Speaker 1: over the garden was charming. When I first went to
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Speaker 1: look at it, the lapidation had set in. Jackdaws and
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Speaker 1: starlings were busy in the chimneys. The paint was peeling
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Speaker 1: off the walls, and most of the windows were broken.
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Speaker 1: Year after year, those windows were mended, but they never
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Speaker 1: remained intact for more than a week, and during the
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Speaker 1: war there has been no attempt at renewal. Even the
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Speaker 1: agent's boards to be let or sold dropped one by
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Speaker 1: one from their stems, as if in sheer weariness of
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Speaker 1: so fruitless an announcement. It was not long before I
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Speaker 1: obtained the loan of the keys and proceeded to take
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Speaker 1: the atmosphere. It was decidedly unhealthful, I concluded, though I
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Speaker 1: neither heard nor saw anything unusual during the hour I
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Speaker 1: spent alone in quietly wandering through the deserted rooms. I
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Speaker 1: found no trace of tramps, and all the closed windows
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Speaker 1: were thickly cub gebbed inside, an important fact to notice
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Speaker 1: in psychic research. I fixed upon the bathroom and one
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Speaker 1: other small room as the faux saies of the trouble
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Speaker 1: and left the house with no other strong impression than
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Speaker 1: that my movements had been closely watched by someone unseen
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Speaker 1: by me. It was no uncommon sight in pre war
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Speaker 1: days to see several smart motor cars drawn up at
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Speaker 1: the gate. Frivolous parties of explorers in search of a thrill,
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Speaker 1: drove in from the surrounding neighborhood and romped gaily through
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Speaker 1: the house and out again. And I discovered that several
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Speaker 1: of those visitors had distinctly felt that they were being
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Speaker 1: followed about and watched. My husband and I were naturally
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Speaker 1: much interested in this haunted dwelling, so accessible and so
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Speaker 1: near to our own house. We determined that if we
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Speaker 1: could make friends with the owner, we would do a
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Speaker 1: little investigation on our own. Us people, on the plea
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Speaker 1: that the house might suit them as a residence, got
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Speaker 1: the loan of the keys and spent an hour or
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Speaker 1: two inside the place, wandering about the house and garden.
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Speaker 1: But the owner was getting tired of this rush of
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Speaker 1: spurious house hunters. He was beginning to ask for bona fayides,
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Speaker 1: so we determined honestly to state our purpose. The proprietor
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Speaker 1: was an old builder who owned several other houses. He
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Speaker 1: received me very civilly, even gratefully. He would willingly give
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Speaker 1: us the keys for as long a period as we
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Speaker 1: required them. Castela Mayre brought him extreme bad luck. He
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Speaker 1: longed to be rid of it, and he added that
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Speaker 1: after our investigations, if my husband could give the house
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Speaker 1: a clean bill of health, it would be of enormous
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Speaker 1: benefit to him in enabling him to let or sell it.
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Speaker 1: He did not seem very hopeful, but stated it to
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Speaker 1: be his opinion that the hauntings were all nonsense, and
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Speaker 1: that the screams people heard were the cries of some
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Speaker 1: peacocks that lived in a property not far off. This
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Speaker 1: sounded very reasonable, and I promised him that if we
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Speaker 1: could honestly state that the house was perfectly unhealthful, we
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Speaker 1: would permit our conclusions to be made public. My husband
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Speaker 1: and I decided that the hour one p m. Till
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Speaker 1: two pm would be the quickest and least conspicuous time
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Speaker 1: in which to investigate. Doubtless the night would have been
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Speaker 1: better still, but it would have created too much excitement
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Speaker 1: in the neighborhood and callers to see how we were
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Speaker 1: bearing up. Would have defeated our object between one and two,
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Speaker 1: all tour quay would be lunching, and we could easily
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Speaker 1: slip in unobserved, and we would require neither lights nor
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Speaker 1: warm comforts. We started at once, my husband keeping the
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Speaker 1: keys and making himself responsible for the doors. Though the
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Speaker 1: window panes were badly broken, there were no openings large
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Speaker 1: enough to admit a small child, and as I have said,
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Speaker 1: the network of cobwebs within was evidence that no human
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Speaker 1: being entered the house by the windows. The front door
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Speaker 1: lock was in good order, and so were most of
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Speaker 1: the other locks in the house. We shut ourselves in,
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Speaker 1: and after a thorough examination of the premises, we mounted
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Speaker 1: to the first floor. Three rooms opened on to it,
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Speaker 1: belonging to the principal bedroom, a smaller room, and a
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Speaker 1: bathroom opening out of the big bedroom. My husband closed
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Speaker 1: all the doors and we sat down on the lower
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Speaker 1: steps of the bare staircase leading to the floor above.
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Speaker 1: That day we drew an absolute blank, and at two
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Speaker 1: o'clock we closed every door in the house, and just
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Speaker 1: inside the front door we made a careless looking arrangement
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Speaker 1: of twigs, dead leaves, pieces of straw and dust, which
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Speaker 1: could not fail to betray the passing of human feet,
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Speaker 1: should anybody possess a duplicate key to the front door
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Speaker 1: and enter by that means. The second day, we found
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Speaker 1: our twig and straw arrangements intact, but not a single
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Speaker 1: door was shut. All were thrown defiantly wide. This seemed
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Speaker 1: rather promising, and we went upstairs to our seat on
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Speaker 1: the steps, and carefully reclosing the doors immediately in front
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Speaker 1: of us, sat down to await events. Quite half an
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Speaker 1: hour must have passed when suddenly a click made us
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Speaker 1: both look up the handle of the door, but a
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Speaker 1: couple of yards distant from me, leading into the small
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Speaker 1: room was turning, and the door quietly opened wide enough
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Speaker 1: to admit the passing of a human being. It was
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Speaker 1: a bright sunny day, and one could see the brass
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Speaker 1: knob turning round quite distinctly. We saw no form of
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Speaker 1: any sort, and the door remained half open for perhaps
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Speaker 1: a couple of moments we awaited developments. Then our attention
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Speaker 1: was suddenly switched off the door by the sound of
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Speaker 1: hurrying footsteps running along the bare boards the corridor above us.
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Speaker 1: My husband rushed up and searched each empty room, but
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Speaker 1: neither saw anything nor heard anything more. Before leaving the house.
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Speaker 1: We shut all doors and locked all doors that would lock.
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Speaker 1: Such was the meager extent of our second day's investigations.
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Speaker 1: On the third day, the doors were all found wide flung.
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Speaker 1: No door opened before our eyes, as on our former visit,
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Speaker 1: but a brushing sound was heard ascending the stairs, as
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Speaker 1: if from someone pressing close against the wall. For about
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Speaker 1: a fortnight, nothing happened beyond what I have recounted, but
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Speaker 1: I was strongly conscious that we were being watched. The
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Speaker 1: most unhealthful spots were the bathroom, a servant's room entered
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Speaker 1: by a staircase leading from the kitchen, and the stable,
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Speaker 1: a small building immediately to the right of the house.
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Speaker 1: The bathroom was in great disrepair, Long strips of paper
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Speaker 1: hung from the walls, and an air of profound depression
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Speaker 1: pervaded it. Obviously, it had once been merely a large cupboard,
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Speaker 1: and it had a window admitting light from a passage
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Speaker 1: behind it. We had never once failed to find every
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Speaker 1: door which we had closed thrown wide on our return,
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Speaker 1: and one day we locked the bathroom, and removing the key,
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Speaker 1: we looked about for some spot in which to secrete it.
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Speaker 1: On that floor was nothing large enough to hide even
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Speaker 1: so small an object as a key, so he took
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Speaker 1: it downstairs to the dining room. In a corner lay
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Speaker 1: a ray of linoleum about six inches square. Under this
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Speaker 1: we placed the bathroom key and left the house. That afternoon,
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Speaker 1: a house sagent called and asked for the loan of
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Speaker 1: the keys. He told us that a brave widow who
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Speaker 1: knew the history of the house thought it might suit
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Speaker 1: her to live in, and he proposed to take her
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Speaker 1: over it and point out its charms. He would return
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Speaker 1: the keys to us directly afterwards. I took advantage of
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Speaker 1: this occasion to say to the agent that probably the
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Speaker 1: screams some people had heard proceeded from the peacocks in
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Speaker 1: the neighborhood. He shook his head and answered, we hoped
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Speaker 1: that might prove to be the case, but we have
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Speaker 1: ascertained that it is not. So. He seemed to be
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Speaker 1: despondent about the place, even though what we had to
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Speaker 1: tell him was as yet nothing very formidable or exciting.
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Speaker 1: What we did not tell him was that we had
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Speaker 1: locked up the bathroom and hidden the key. We left
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Speaker 1: him to discover that fact for himself. He returned with
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Speaker 1: the keys in about an hour, and I asked him
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Speaker 1: what the widow thought of Castel a mare. She thinks
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Speaker 1: something might be made of it. The cheapness attracts her,
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Speaker 1: he answered, But it will need so much doing to it.
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Speaker 1: I demurred, What did she think of the bathroom? She said,
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Speaker 1: it only needed cleaning and repapering. The bath itself she
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Speaker 1: found in good enough condition. So the bathroom door was open,
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Speaker 1: in spite of our having locked it and hidden the key.
13:06
Speaker 1: After the agent had gone, we went to the house.
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Speaker 1: Every door stood wide, the bathroom key was still in
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Speaker 1: its hiding place, and the door open. We replaced the key.
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Speaker 1: The ghosts laughed to scorn such securities as locks and keys.
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Speaker 1: For a month or two we pursued our investigations. Then
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Speaker 1: we returned the keys to the owner. Though we had
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Speaker 1: seen and heard so little, it was impossible to give
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Speaker 1: the house a clean bill of health, and the old
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Speaker 1: builder was much cast down. A few days afterwards we
13:40
Speaker 1: received a letter from him offering us the house as
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Speaker 1: a free gift. It would pay him to be rid
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Speaker 1: of the ground rent, and the place was as useless
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Speaker 1: to him as to any one else. We thanked him
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Speaker 1: and refused the gift. About this period I was lucky
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Speaker 1: enough to get into touch with a former tenant of
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Speaker 1: Castel a Mare, and this lady most kindly gave me
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Speaker 1: many details of her residence there about thirty years ago.
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Speaker 1: She occupied with her father and mother, and they were
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Speaker 1: the last family to live in it for any length
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Speaker 1: of time, and for many years it has remained empty.
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Speaker 1: Soon after their arrival, this family discovered that there was
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Speaker 1: something very much amiss with their new residence. The house,
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Speaker 1: the garden, and the stable were decidedly uncanny, but it
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Speaker 1: was some time before they would admit even to themselves
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Speaker 1: that the strange happenings were of a supernatural order. The
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Speaker 1: phenomena fell under three headings. A piercing scream heard continually
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Speaker 1: at any hour and during all seasons. Continuous steps running
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Speaker 1: along corridors and up and down stairs. Constant lockings of
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Speaker 1: doors by unseen hands. The scream was decidedly the most
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Speaker 1: unnerving of the various phenomena. The family lived in constant
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Speaker 1: dread of it. Sometimes it came from the garden, sometimes
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Speaker 1: from inside the house. One morning, whilst they sat at breakfast,
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Speaker 1: they were violently startled by this horrible sound coming from
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Speaker 1: the inner hall, just outside the room. In which they sat.
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Speaker 1: It took but a moment to throw open the door,
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Speaker 1: but as usual, there was nothing to be seen. On
15:22
Speaker 1: another occasion, the family doctor had just arrived at the
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Speaker 1: front door and was about to ring when he was
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Speaker 1: startled by the scream coming from inside the house. This
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Speaker 1: doctor still lives in the neighborhood and is one of
15:35
Speaker 1: many people who can bear witness to the fact. The
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Speaker 1: footsteps of unseen people kept the family pretty busy. They
15:43
Speaker 1: were always running to the doors to see who was
15:45
Speaker 1: hurrying past, and up and downstairs. Very soon the drawing
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Speaker 1: room became extremely uncomfortable and practically uninhabitable. The lady of
15:56
Speaker 1: the house never felt herself alone, and when she found
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Speaker 1: herself locked in to her own room, the behavior of
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Speaker 1: her astral guests seemed to her to have become intolerable.
16:07
Speaker 1: The master of the house no more escaped these attentions
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Speaker 1: than did the rest of the inhabitants, and finally all
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Speaker 1: keys had to be removed from all doors. One night,
16:17
Speaker 1: some guests, after getting into bed, heard someone open the
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Speaker 1: door of their room and enter. Astonishment kept them silent,
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Speaker 1: and in a minute or two their visitor quietly withdrew
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Speaker 1: and closed the door. Again. They concluded that it must
16:32
Speaker 1: have been their hostess, and that, thinking they were asleep,
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Speaker 1: she had not spoken yet. Still, they thought the incident
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Speaker 1: very strange. The next morning they discovered that no member
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Speaker 1: of the household had entered their room. On another occasion,
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Speaker 1: a lady who had come to help nurse a sick
16:50
Speaker 1: sister saw one night a strange woman dressed in black
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Speaker 1: velvet walk downstairs. Animals fared badly at time. Castel a Mare,
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Speaker 1: a large dog belonging to the family, was often found
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Speaker 1: cowering and growling in abject fear of something visible to
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Speaker 1: it but not to the human inhabitants, and the harness
17:12
Speaker 1: horse showed such an invincible objection to its stable that
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Speaker 1: it could only be got in by backing. Later on,
17:20
Speaker 1: I was told that a member of the psychical Society
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Speaker 1: had visited Castel a Mare and had pronounced the garden
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Speaker 1: to be more haunted than the house. It is interesting
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Speaker 1: to note how absolutely untenable, badly haunted houses become. No
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Speaker 1: matter how skeptical, how resolutely material the tenants may be,
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Speaker 1: the phenomena wear them down to a humble surrender at last.
17:46
Speaker 1: After all, what can people do but quit a residence
17:48
Speaker 1: which is constantly showing incontrovertible evidence that it is possessed
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Speaker 1: by numerous unseen entities that defy analysis. Everyone is interested
17:59
Speaker 1: in getting rid of them weird disturbance, But how do
18:01
Speaker 1: you do it? The skeptic is resolute in unmasking the fraud,
18:06
Speaker 1: but finds himself balked by intangibility. He hears the scream
18:11
Speaker 1: at his door and rushes to arrest the miscreant, but
18:14
Speaker 1: sees no one to grapple with. Domestic difficulties become acute.
18:19
Speaker 1: No warning is given, no wages asked. The servants DeCamp,
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Speaker 1: too scared to care for anything, but putting distance between
18:27
Speaker 1: themselves and the nameless dread visitors begin to fight shy
18:31
Speaker 1: of the house. They have heard the screams month after month.
18:36
Speaker 1: The master of the house, thinking of his rent and
18:39
Speaker 1: his reputation for sanity, and what the loss of both
18:42
Speaker 1: would mean to him, clings to skepticism as his only
18:46
Speaker 1: hope and refuge. He is not going to be driven
18:49
Speaker 1: forth by any such stuff and nonsense as ghosts. Why
18:54
Speaker 1: there are no such things, seen things, heard things? Well,
18:59
Speaker 1: yes he has, but of course there must be some
19:02
Speaker 1: rational explanation. A man who has fought for king and country,
19:07
Speaker 1: is not going to be defeated and put to flight
19:09
Speaker 1: by a pack of silly women's stories. He will soon
19:13
Speaker 1: get to the bottom of the whole affair. Then woe
19:15
Speaker 1: betide the practical joker. When alone he racks his brains
19:20
Speaker 1: in vain. He is furious with himself for having heard
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Speaker 1: the scream, and tells himself he must be going dotty.
19:28
Speaker 1: He is puzzled, baffled, irritated, but more determined than ever
19:32
Speaker 1: to stick it out. Who can the joker be who
19:35
Speaker 1: is demoralizing his household, who has even dared to lock
19:39
Speaker 1: him into his own room? He thinks of his wife
19:43
Speaker 1: and family, and of their shattered nerves. He thinks of
19:47
Speaker 1: his terrified servants, and of his dog, who can no
19:50
Speaker 1: longer be persuaded to enter the house. He feels he
19:53
Speaker 1: must look elsewhere for the disturber of his peace, But
19:57
Speaker 1: where he keeps careful watch unknown. As he thinks to
20:02
Speaker 1: his family, the steps approach him, pass close to him,
20:07
Speaker 1: then die away in the distance, leaving him fuming impotent.
20:11
Speaker 1: He finds it necessary to wipe his brow, which enrages
20:15
Speaker 1: him still more. At dead of night, he watches on
20:18
Speaker 1: the staircase with all lights full on, silence, utter silence,
20:25
Speaker 1: absolutely nothing to be seen or heard. He thinks of
20:29
Speaker 1: going to bed. He always said the whole thing was
20:31
Speaker 1: Tommy rot. The deathly silence is suddenly rent by a
20:36
Speaker 1: piercing scream at his very elbow, and he leaps to
20:39
Speaker 1: his feet, growling out an oath below his breath. He
20:43
Speaker 1: looks wildly round on every side of him. Nothing. Something
20:48
Speaker 1: strange is happening to his head. He passes his hand
20:51
Speaker 1: over his hair. It seems to be creeping along his scalp,
20:55
Speaker 1: and he thinks of the quills of a porcupine. What
20:58
Speaker 1: the devil is he to do? Go to bed? Answers inclination.
21:03
Speaker 1: You're doing no good here, Yes, go to bed, That's
21:07
Speaker 1: the sensible thing to do. The next morning, everyone asks
21:11
Speaker 1: him if he heard it. He acknowledges to himself that
21:14
Speaker 1: his temper is becoming vile. The day comes when he
21:18
Speaker 1: is left alone with his family. The staff has fled,
21:21
Speaker 1: and he feels rather broken. At last, he gives in
21:25
Speaker 1: and degrees to seek another home. But it is not
21:28
Speaker 1: to the ghosts he gives in, but to the nervous
21:31
Speaker 1: fancies of a pack of silly women. He feels wonderfully
21:35
Speaker 1: light hearted. However, now that his mind is made up,
21:38
Speaker 1: and a glow of magnanimity pervades him. If you do
21:42
Speaker 1: a thing at all, do it well and at once,
21:44
Speaker 1: he tells himself, and promptly hires another house in another neighborhood.
21:50
Speaker 1: When questioned by his men friends, he laughs, the man
21:53
Speaker 1: in the street might understand certain things that he could tell,
21:57
Speaker 1: but the man in the club never. Oh, Tommy wrought
22:01
Speaker 1: my dear chap. But my wife got nervous, and the servants,
22:05
Speaker 1: you know what, they are scared by the scratch of
22:07
Speaker 1: a mouse. For the women's sake, I thought it best
22:10
Speaker 1: to quit. You know what women are when they once
22:13
Speaker 1: get an idea into their heads. Chapter twenty one, the Sequel.
22:21
Speaker 1: In nineteen seventeen, a friend rang me up and asked
22:24
Speaker 1: me if I would form one of a party of
22:27
Speaker 1: investigation at Castel a Mare. The service of a medium
22:31
Speaker 1: had been secured, and a soldier on leave who was
22:35
Speaker 1: deeply immersed in psychic research was in high hopes of
22:38
Speaker 1: getting some genuine results. I accepted the invitation because a
22:43
Speaker 1: certain incident had once more roused my curiosity. In the
22:47
Speaker 1: Haunted house during our investigations. I had been disappointed at
22:52
Speaker 1: not hearing the much talked of scream, the more so
22:56
Speaker 1: after learning from the former tenants how very often they
22:59
Speaker 1: had heard it. When I did at last hear it,
23:02
Speaker 1: I was walking past the house on a very hot
23:04
Speaker 1: summer morning, about eleven o'clock. I was not thinking of
23:08
Speaker 1: the house, and had just passed it on my way
23:11
Speaker 1: home when the piercing scream arrested my attention. I wheeled
23:15
Speaker 1: around instantly. There was not a doubt as to where
23:18
Speaker 1: the scream came from, but unfortunately, though there were people
23:22
Speaker 1: on the road, there was no one near enough to
23:24
Speaker 1: bear witness. The scream appeared to come from some one
23:28
Speaker 1: in abject terror, and would have arrested the attention of
23:32
Speaker 1: any one who happened to be passing. I mean that
23:35
Speaker 1: had no haunted house stood there, had the scream proceeded
23:38
Speaker 1: from any other villa, I am sure that any passer
23:41
Speaker 1: by would have halted wonderingly and awaited further developments. Castel
23:46
Speaker 1: a Mare lay in absolute silence under the blazing sunshine,
23:51
Speaker 1: and in a minute or two I walked on. I
23:54
Speaker 1: could now understand what it must have meant to live
23:56
Speaker 1: in that house in constant dread of that weird and
23:59
Speaker 1: hidden sound resounding through the rooms or garden. This incident
24:05
Speaker 1: made me eager to join my friend's party, and on
24:08
Speaker 1: reaching the house I found a small crowd assembled the medium,
24:12
Speaker 1: myself and four other women, the soldier, and an elderly
24:16
Speaker 1: and burly builder belonging to the neighborhood who was interested
24:20
Speaker 1: in psychic research. Eight persons in all. As there was
24:25
Speaker 1: no chair or furniture of any description in the house,
24:28
Speaker 1: we carried in a small empty box from the rubbish
24:31
Speaker 1: heap outside and followed the medium through the rooms. She
24:35
Speaker 1: elected to remain in the large bedroom on the first floor,
24:39
Speaker 1: out of which opened the bathroom, and she sat down
24:42
Speaker 1: on the box and leaned her back against the wall
24:45
Speaker 1: whilst we lounged about the room and awaited events. It
24:49
Speaker 1: was a sunny summer afternoon, and the many broken panes
24:52
Speaker 1: of glass throughout the house admitted plenty of air. After
24:57
Speaker 1: some minutes, it was plain to see that the medium
24:59
Speaker 1: had fallen and into a trance. Her eyes were closed
25:03
Speaker 1: and she lay back as if in sound sleep. Time passed,
25:07
Speaker 1: nothing happened. We were all rather silent, as I had
25:10
Speaker 1: warned the party that though we were in a room
25:13
Speaker 1: at the side of the house farthest from the road,
25:16
Speaker 1: our voices could plainly be heard by passers by, and
25:20
Speaker 1: we wanted no interference. Just as we were all beginning
25:24
Speaker 1: to feel rather bored and tired of standing, the medium
25:28
Speaker 1: sprang to her feet with surprising agility, pouring out a
25:31
Speaker 1: volume of violent language. Her voice had taken on the deep,
25:36
Speaker 1: growling tones of an infuriated man, who advanced menacingly towards
25:40
Speaker 1: those of us who were nearest to him. In harsh,
25:43
Speaker 1: threatening voice, he demanded to know what right we had
25:46
Speaker 1: to intrude on his privacy. There was a general scattering
25:50
Speaker 1: of the scared party before this unlooked for attack, and
25:54
Speaker 1: the soldier gave it as his opinion that the medium
25:57
Speaker 1: was now controlled by the spirit of a very, very
26:00
Speaker 1: violent male entity. I had no doubt upon the point
26:05
Speaker 1: then commenced so very unpleasant a scene that I had
26:08
Speaker 1: no doubt also of the medium's genuineness. No charlatan dependent
26:13
Speaker 1: upon fraudulent mediumship for her daily bread would have made
26:17
Speaker 1: herself so intensely obnoxious as did this frail little woman.
26:22
Speaker 1: I found myself saying, never again, this isn't good enough.
26:27
Speaker 1: The entity that controlled her possessed superhuman strength. His voice
26:31
Speaker 1: was like the bellow of a bull as he told
26:34
Speaker 1: us to be gone or he would throw us out himself,
26:36
Speaker 1: and his language was shocking. I had warned the medium
26:40
Speaker 1: on entering the house that we must be as quiet
26:43
Speaker 1: as possible, or we would have the police walking in
26:45
Speaker 1: on us. Now I expected any moment to see a
26:48
Speaker 1: policeman or some male stranger arrive on the scene and
26:52
Speaker 1: demand to know what was the matter. The majority of
26:56
Speaker 1: our party were keeping at a safe distance, but suddenly
26:59
Speaker 1: the control rushed full tilt at the soldier who had
27:02
Speaker 1: stood his ground, and attacking him with a tigerish fury.
27:06
Speaker 1: Drew blood at once. The big builder and I rushed
27:10
Speaker 1: forward to his aid. The rest of the party forsook
27:13
Speaker 1: us and fled pale mell out of the house and
27:15
Speaker 1: into the garden. Glancing through a window near which we fought,
27:20
Speaker 1: I saw below a row of scared faces staring up
27:24
Speaker 1: in awed wonder. The scene being enacted was really amazing.
27:29
Speaker 1: This frail little creature threw us off like feathers and
27:32
Speaker 1: drove us foot by foot before her, always heading us
27:36
Speaker 1: off the bathroom. We tried to stand our ground and
27:40
Speaker 1: dodge her furious lunges, but she was too much for us.
27:44
Speaker 1: After a desperate scuffle, which lasted quite seven or eight
27:47
Speaker 1: minutes and resulted in much torn clothing, she drove us
27:51
Speaker 1: out of the room and on to the landing. Then suddenly,
27:54
Speaker 1: without warning, the entities seemed to evacuate the body he
27:58
Speaker 1: had controlled, and the medium went down with a crash
28:01
Speaker 1: and lay at our feet, just a little crumpled, disheveled heap.
28:07
Speaker 1: For some considerable time I thought she was dead. Her
28:11
Speaker 1: lips were blue, and I could feel no pulse. We
28:14
Speaker 1: had neither water nor brandy with which to revive her,
28:17
Speaker 1: and we decided to carry her down into the garden
28:20
Speaker 1: and see what fresh air would do. Though villas stood
28:23
Speaker 1: all round us, the foliage of the trees gave us
28:26
Speaker 1: absolute privacy, and we laid her flat on the lawn
28:31
Speaker 1: there After about ten minutes, she gradually regained her consciousness, and,
28:35
Speaker 1: seemingly none the worse for her experiences. She sat up
28:38
Speaker 1: and asked what had happened. We did not give her
28:41
Speaker 1: the truth in its entirety, and contrived to account for
28:45
Speaker 1: the bloodstained soldier and the torn clothing without unduly shocking
28:49
Speaker 1: and distressing her. We then dispersed the medium, walking off
28:54
Speaker 1: as if nothing whatever had occurred to deplete her strength.
28:58
Speaker 1: Some days after this, the soldier begged for another experiment
29:01
Speaker 1: with the medium. He had no doubts as to her genuineness,
29:05
Speaker 1: and he was sure that if we tried again we
29:07
Speaker 1: would get further developments. She was willing to try again,
29:11
Speaker 1: and so was the builder, but with one exception, the
29:14
Speaker 1: rest of the party refused to have anything more to
29:17
Speaker 1: do with the unpleasant affair, and the one exception stipulated
29:21
Speaker 1: to remain in the garden. She very wisely remarked that
29:25
Speaker 1: if she came into the house, there was no knowing
29:27
Speaker 1: what entity might not attach itself to her and return
29:31
Speaker 1: home with her, and she was not going to risk it.
29:34
Speaker 1: Of course, this real danger always had to be counted
29:37
Speaker 1: upon in such investigations. But as the men of the
29:40
Speaker 1: party desired a woman to accompany the medium, I consented
29:44
Speaker 1: and we entered the house once more, a reduced party
29:48
Speaker 1: of four. After the medium had remained entranced for some minutes,
29:53
Speaker 1: the same male entity again controlled her the same violence.
29:58
Speaker 1: The same attacks began once more, but this time we
30:01
Speaker 1: were better prepared to defend ourselves. The soldier and the
30:05
Speaker 1: stalwart builder warded off the attacks and tried conciliatory expostulations,
30:11
Speaker 1: but all to no purpose. Then the soldier, who seemed
30:14
Speaker 1: to have considerable experience in such matters, tried a system
30:18
Speaker 1: of exercising sternly bidding the malignant entity depart. There ensued
30:23
Speaker 1: a very curious spiritual conflict between the exorcist and the entity,
30:28
Speaker 1: in which sometimes it seemed as if one then the
30:31
Speaker 1: other was about to triumph. These wavering moments were useful
30:36
Speaker 1: in giving us breathing space from the assaults, and at length,
30:40
Speaker 1: having failed as we desired to get into the bathroom,
30:43
Speaker 1: we drove him back against the wall at the far
30:45
Speaker 1: end of the room. Finally, the exorcist triumphed and the
30:49
Speaker 1: medium collapsed on the floor. As the strength of the
30:52
Speaker 1: control left her for a few moments, we allowed the
30:57
Speaker 1: crumpled up little heap to remain where she lay, who whlst.
31:00
Speaker 1: We mopped our brows and regained our breath. The soldier
31:03
Speaker 1: had brought a flask of brandy, which we proposed to
31:06
Speaker 1: administer to the unconscious medium, But quite suddenly a new
31:09
Speaker 1: development began. She raised her head, and still crouching on
31:14
Speaker 1: the floor with closed eyes, she began to cry bitterly,
31:18
Speaker 1: wailing and moaning and uttering inarticulate words. She had become
31:23
Speaker 1: the picture of absolute woe. Another entity has got hold
31:27
Speaker 1: of her, announced the soldier. It certainly appeared to be so.
31:32
Speaker 1: All signs of violence had gone. The medium had become
31:36
Speaker 1: a heart broken woman. We raised her to her feet.
31:40
Speaker 1: Her condition was pitiable, but her words became more coherent.
31:44
Speaker 1: Poor master on the bed, help him, help him, She moaned,
31:49
Speaker 1: and pointed to one side of the room. Again and
31:53
Speaker 1: again she indicated, by clenching her hands to her throat,
31:56
Speaker 1: that death by strangulation was the culmination of some terrible
32:00
Speaker 1: tragedy that had been enacted in that room. She wandered
32:04
Speaker 1: in a desolate manner about the floor, wringing her hands,
32:08
Speaker 1: the tears pouring down her cheeks, whilst she pointed to
32:12
Speaker 1: the bed, then towards the bathroom with shuddering horror. Suddenly
32:17
Speaker 1: we were startled out of our compassionate sympathy by a
32:19
Speaker 1: piercing scream, and my thoughts flew instantly to the experiences
32:24
Speaker 1: of the former tenants and what I myself had heard
32:27
Speaker 1: in passing On that June morning of the former year,
32:32
Speaker 1: the medium had turned at bay and began a frantic
32:35
Speaker 1: encounter with some entity unseen by us. Wildly, she wrestled
32:39
Speaker 1: and fought as if for her life, whilst she emitted
32:42
Speaker 1: piercing shrieks for help. We rushed to the rescue, dragging
32:47
Speaker 1: her away from her invisible assailant. But a disembodied fighter
32:51
Speaker 1: has a considerable pull over a fighter in the flesh
32:54
Speaker 1: who possesses something tangible that can be seized. I placed
32:58
Speaker 1: the medium behind me, with her back to the wall,
33:01
Speaker 1: but though I pressed her clothes, she continued to fight,
33:04
Speaker 1: and I had to defend myself as well as defend her.
33:08
Speaker 1: Her assailant was undoubtedly the first terrible entity which had
33:11
Speaker 1: controlled her. At intervals she gasped out, terrible doctor will
33:16
Speaker 1: kill me. He's killed master. Help help. Gradually she ceased
33:22
Speaker 1: to fight. The soldier was exercising with all his force
33:26
Speaker 1: and was gaining power. Finally, he triumphed inasmuch as he
33:30
Speaker 1: banished the terrible doctor. The medium was, however, still under
33:35
Speaker 1: the control of the broken hearted entity, and began again
33:38
Speaker 1: to wander about the room. We extracted from her further
33:42
Speaker 1: details an approximate date of the tragedy. Her master's name,
33:47
Speaker 1: that he was mentally deficient. When the murder took place,
33:50
Speaker 1: she was a maid servant in the house, and after
33:53
Speaker 1: witnessing the crime, she appeared to have shared her master's fate,
33:57
Speaker 1: though by what means we could not determine. The doctor
34:00
Speaker 1: was a resident physician of foreign origin. At last we
34:05
Speaker 1: induced her to enter the bathroom, which she seemed to dread,
34:09
Speaker 1: and there she fell to lamenting over the dead body
34:11
Speaker 1: of her master, which had lain hidden there when the
34:15
Speaker 1: room was used as a large cupboard. It was a
34:18
Speaker 1: very painful scene, which was ended abruptly by her falling
34:21
Speaker 1: down insensible. She had collapsed in an awkward corner, but
34:26
Speaker 1: at last we lifted her out and carried her downstairs
34:29
Speaker 1: to the garden. When I tried to revive her with brandy,
34:33
Speaker 1: I found that her teeth were tightly clenched. I then
34:36
Speaker 1: tried artificial respiration, as I could feel no pulse. Gradually
34:41
Speaker 1: she came back to life quietly, calmly, and in total
34:44
Speaker 1: ignorance of what had occurred. The most amazing thing was
34:48
Speaker 1: that she showed no sign whatever of exhaustion or mental fatigue.
34:52
Speaker 1: We were all dead beat, but not so the fragile
34:55
Speaker 1: looking little medium, though externally she looked terribly disheveled and draggled.
35:02
Speaker 1: This was the last time I set foot in the
35:04
Speaker 1: haunted house, which is now being demolished, but I still
35:07
Speaker 1: had to experience more of its side phenomena. The date
35:11
Speaker 1: and names the medium had given us were later on
35:14
Speaker 1: verified by means of a record of villa residents, which
35:18
Speaker 1: for many years had been kept in the town of Torquay.
35:22
Speaker 1: There is no one left now that has any interest
35:24
Speaker 1: in verifying a tragic story supposed to have been enacted
35:27
Speaker 1: about fifty years ago. It must be left in the
35:30
Speaker 1: realms of psychic research, by which means it was dragged
35:34
Speaker 1: to light. Certain it is that no murder came to
35:37
Speaker 1: the knowledge of those who were alive then and live
35:40
Speaker 1: still in Torquaye. If there is any truth in the story,
35:45
Speaker 1: it falls under the category of undiscovered crimes. The murderer
35:49
Speaker 1: was able somehow to hide his iniquities and escape suspicion
35:54
Speaker 1: and punishment. I do not know if it is intended
35:57
Speaker 1: to build another house on the same site. Hope not,
36:00
Speaker 1: for it is very probable that a new residence would
36:03
Speaker 1: share the fate of the old bricks, send mortar or
36:06
Speaker 1: no impediment to the free passage of the disembodied, and
36:10
Speaker 1: there is no reason why they should not elect to
36:12
Speaker 1: manifest for an indefinite period of time. There can be
36:17
Speaker 1: no doubt that the scream was an actual fact. There
36:20
Speaker 1: are so many people living who heard it and are
36:23
Speaker 1: willing to testify to the horror of it. Amongst those
36:26
Speaker 1: living people are former tenants who forlong bore the nervous
36:30
Speaker 1: strain of its constant recurrence. There remains one other weird
36:35
Speaker 1: incident in connection with Castel, a mare which I will
36:38
Speaker 1: now try to describe. In the winter of nineteen seventeen,
36:42
Speaker 1: I was engaged in war work which took me out
36:45
Speaker 1: at night. Like every other coast town, Torquay was plunged
36:50
Speaker 1: at sunset into deepest darkness, save when the moon defied
36:54
Speaker 1: the authorities. The road leading from the nearest tramcar to
36:58
Speaker 1: our house was not lit at all, and one had
37:00
Speaker 1: to stumble along as best one could, even electric torches
37:04
Speaker 1: being forbidden. I was returning home one very dark still night,
37:09
Speaker 1: about a quarter past ten, and being very tired, I
37:13
Speaker 1: was walking very slowly owing to the inky darkness. I
37:17
Speaker 1: thought it best to walk in the middle of the
37:19
Speaker 1: road in order to avoid the inequities in the footfall
37:22
Speaker 1: at each garden entrance to the villas. At that hour
37:26
Speaker 1: there was no traffic and not a soul about. Suddenly
37:30
Speaker 1: my steps were arrested by a loud knocking on a
37:33
Speaker 1: window pane, and I collected my thoughts and tried to
37:36
Speaker 1: take my bearings. The sound came from the left, where
37:40
Speaker 1: two or three villas stand close to the road. All
37:43
Speaker 1: I could distinguish was a denser blot of black against
37:47
Speaker 1: the dense surroundings. But by making certain calculations, I recognized
37:51
Speaker 1: that I stood outside Castel a Mare. The knocking on
37:55
Speaker 1: the pane lasted only a moment or two and was
37:58
Speaker 1: insistent and peremptory. I jumped to the instant conclusion that
38:02
Speaker 1: some one was having a lark inside and was trying
38:06
Speaker 1: to get a rise out of me. I was too
38:09
Speaker 1: tired to be bothered, and moved on again with a
38:12
Speaker 1: strong inclination towards my own warm bed. When the knocking
38:16
Speaker 1: rang out, more peremptory than ever, it seemed to say, stop,
38:20
Speaker 1: don't go on, I have something to say to you. Involuntarily,
38:25
Speaker 1: I stood still, again, and wished that some human being
38:28
Speaker 1: would pass along the road. I really would not have
38:31
Speaker 1: cared who it was, policeman, soldier, maid servant. I would
38:36
Speaker 1: have laid hold of them and said, do you hear
38:38
Speaker 1: that knocking? It comes from the haunted house. Alas no
38:43
Speaker 1: one did come. The night lay like an inky pall
38:46
Speaker 1: all about me, silent as the grave, save for that
38:49
Speaker 1: commanding order to stop, which was wrapped upon a window
38:53
Speaker 1: pane whenever I attempted to move on. Though the being
38:57
Speaker 1: who thus sought to detain me could not possibly distinguish
39:00
Speaker 1: who I was or whether my gender was male or female,
39:03
Speaker 1: he could certainly hear my footsteps as I walked, and
39:07
Speaker 1: the cool, in consequence of his behavior, began to nettle me.
39:11
Speaker 1: I was about to move resolutely on when I heard
39:13
Speaker 1: something else, this time something really thrilling peal after peal
39:18
Speaker 1: of light laughter accompanied by flying feet, But such laughter, thin,
39:24
Speaker 1: high treble laughter, right away up and out of the scale,
39:27
Speaker 1: and apparently proceeding from many persons, such flying feet, racing, pattering,
39:33
Speaker 1: rushing feet, light as those of the trained athlete. I
39:38
Speaker 1: stood enthralled with wonder for in the pitch black darkness
39:41
Speaker 1: of that house, surely no human feet could avoid disaster.
39:45
Speaker 1: They were rushing up and down that steep, bare wooden
39:48
Speaker 1: staircase that I knew so well, and the laughter and
39:51
Speaker 1: the swift winged feet sounded now from the ground floor
39:54
Speaker 1: then could be clearly traced, ascending till they reached the
39:57
Speaker 1: third and last floor. Tearing along the empty corridors, they
40:01
Speaker 1: began the breakneck descent again to the bottom and pell
40:05
Speaker 1: mell wild rushier demented demons chasing each other. That is
40:09
Speaker 1: what it sounded like. I must have stood there for
40:12
Speaker 1: quite ten minutes, longing intensely for someone to share in
40:16
Speaker 1: my experiences, but Torquay had gone to bed, and I
40:20
Speaker 1: felt it was time for me to do Likewise, what
40:24
Speaker 1: could I make of the affair? Nothing? Rats, rats, don't laugh,
40:31
Speaker 1: human beings having a rag and trying to scare the neighborhood.
40:35
Speaker 1: No human being could run up and down that staircase
40:37
Speaker 1: in such profound darkness. It would have been a case
40:40
Speaker 1: of crawling up with a firm hand on the banister.
40:44
Speaker 1: I gave up trying to think, and turned resolutely away.
40:48
Speaker 1: As I did so, the knocking began again upon the windowpane.
40:51
Speaker 1: Do stop, Oh, don't go away, stop, stop, it seemed
40:55
Speaker 1: to call after me insistently, as I quickened my footsteps
40:59
Speaker 1: and gradually distanced the imperious demand. What explanation have I
41:05
Speaker 1: to offer? None the hallucinations of a tired woman. That
41:09
Speaker 1: may do for the general public, but not for me.
41:13
Speaker 1: You see, I was the person who heard it. There
41:17
Speaker 1: are many haunted houses that are quite habitable, such as
41:21
Speaker 1: Hempton Court Palace, et cetera. Where the apparition keeps strictly
41:25
Speaker 1: to an anniversary, or where the phenomenon are mild and inoffensive,
41:29
Speaker 1: their presence can be endured with a certain amount of equanimity.
41:34
Speaker 1: The point really lies in this are the ghosts who
41:37
Speaker 1: haunt a dwelling indifferent to or hostile to the presence
41:42
Speaker 1: of their companions in the flesh. If the situation is
41:45
Speaker 1: according to the latter, then the ghosts will certainly score.
41:50
Speaker 1: They will rid themselves of the human inhabitants by a
41:53
Speaker 1: wearing down nerve pressure which cannot be fought against with
41:56
Speaker 1: any chance of success. If the ghosts are shown are indifferent,
42:01
Speaker 1: wrapped up in their own concerns, and containing themselves in
42:04
Speaker 1: a world of their own, then there is no reason
42:07
Speaker 1: why the incarnate and the disincarnate should not live peacefully together.
42:14
Speaker 1: End of Haunted Houses Castel a Mare by Violet Tweedale